Lot 3626. An imperial inscribed blue-ground famille-rose 'landscape' vase, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 18.7 cm, 7 ⅜ in. Estimate: 1,200,000 - 1,500,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,890,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

one side delicately painted with a tranquil lakeside scene within a gilt lobed rim, the reverse inscribed in black with a poem and decorated with three iron-red seal marks, reserved on a pale lavender-blue ground decorated with floral scrolls, the neck with a pair of mask handles, each suspending a mock ring.

Note: Inscribed on the vase is a poem titled Oucheng (‘Composed by chance’) by the monk and poet Shi Zihui, who flourished in the late Yuan to early Ming period. A calligraphic work by the poet, which includes the present poem, is preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, no. Gu hua 000255-00011. Of compressed form, the present piece bears a close resemblance to contemporaneous wall vases. See a lavender-blue ground yangcai wall vase with a poem written by the Qianlong Emperor, flanked by a pair of dragon-shaped handles, in the British Museum, London, no. PDF A.807, illustrated in Stacey Pierson, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art: A Guide to the Collection, London, 2002, p. 91, no. 100.

Lavender-blue ground yangcai wall-vase with a poem written by the Qianlong Emperor, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795), 19,2 x 8,7 x 4,2 cm, PDF,A.807. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art. 9 October 2020